Sunday Word: Acolyte
acolyte [ak-uh-lahyt]
noun:
1 a person who assists the celebrant in the performance of liturgical rites
2 a devoted follower or attendant.
Examples:
The updated canon will say, "Laity who possess the age and qualifications established by decree of the conference of bishops can be admitted on a stable basis through the prescribed liturgical rite to the ministries of lector and acolyte." (Cindy Wooden, Pope amends canon so women can be installed as lectors, acolytes, Hawaii Catholic Herald, January 2021)
As legend (or truth) has it, Tarcisius was a twelve-year-old acolyte during the time of the early Christian persecutions. (Fr Ron Rolheiser, From St Tarcisius to People magazine: our evolution in admiration and imitation , Herald Malaysia Online, December 2020)
But forget procedural generation for a bit, because without it the game's core resembles that of your usual roguelite. You're an acolyte of the Loam Lands, a Lovecraft-inspired world of spiky buildings and jiggly strips of flesh. (Ed Thorn, Source Of Madness review: machine learning makes this a messy roguelite, Rock Paper Shotgun, May 2022)
CCTV footage shows Doherty and his then girlfriend, 19-year-old Kate Russell Pavier (again, another Doherty acolyte from a privileged background - her father composes scores for television and films) running away from the scene and past Mark's body. (Jamie Doward, Pete Doherty: the gifted artists who pay a fatal price after entering his orbit, The Guardian, January 2020)
I put forward this obvious reflection, not out of any desire to disparage Mr Waldron in particular, but that you may not lose your sense of proportion and mistake the acolyte for the high priest. (Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World)
When the last acolyte renounces his faith and turns to another deity, the god ceases to be. (Harlan Ellison, Deathbird Stories)
Origin:
early 14c, 'inferior officer in the church,' from Old French acolite or directly from Medieval Latin acolytus (Late Latin acoluthus), from Greek akolouthos 'following, attending on,' as a noun, 'a follower, attendant,' literally 'having one way,' from a- 'together with,' copulative prefix + keleuthos 'a way, road, path, course, journey,' which is of unknown etymology. The word was in late Old English as acolitus, a Latin form; in early modern English a corrected form acolythe was used. (Online Etymology Dictionary)